Rear door lock for automobiles



March 7, 1950 D. J. REPKO REAR DOOR LOCK FOR AUTOMOBILES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 1, 1947 Inventor Dona/d Repko March 7, 1950 D. J. REPKO 2,499,972

REAR DOOR LOCK FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed Dec. 1, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I11 uentor Donald J Rep/r0 Patented Mar. 7, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REAR DOOR AUTOMOBILES Donald J. Repko, Gilbertsville, Pa.

Application December 1, 1947, Serial No. 789,015

6 Claims. (011292482) The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in looks for the rear doors of four door automobiles and more particularly to means whereby the rear door will be automatically locked by the closing of the front door and cannot'be opened until the front door is opened.

A fur her object of the invention is to provide a lock mechanism of this character which may be rendered inoperative, when desired, so that-the rear door may be opened independently of the fro t door.

A still further object is to design and construct a rear door lock for automobiles whereby children will be safely locked in the rear of the car without danger of accidentally opening the rear door while the automobile is moving and in which the operatin lever is easily accessible to occupants of the front seat.

Another object of the invention is to provide a door lock of this character which may be easily installed in position adjacent the free edges of the front and rear doors of an automobile without necessitating any material changes in the constructi n thereof.

A still further obiect is to provide a device of this character of simple and practical construction, which is eihcient and reliable in operation, relatively inexpensive to manufacture-and otherwise well adapted for the purposesfor which the same is intended.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which: I

Figure 1 is a fra mentary longitudinal sectional view of an automobile body showing the position of the safety lock therein;

Figure 2 is an enlargedlongitudinal sectionalview taken on a line 2-'2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on a line 3--3 of Figure'Z;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary longitudinalsection'al view talren on a line 4-4 of Figure 2 and showing the guide for the lock controlling lever; v Figure 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the guide: Y

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view taken on a line 6--6 of Figure 4;

Figure '7 is a perspective view of the spring catch for the lever; a Figure 8 is a perspective view of the front door actuated plunger; 7 v

Figure 9 is a similar view-of ingbolt;

Figure 10 is a similar view of the control lever; Figure 11 is a perspective view of the housing $9. q vllie le'e 99 e 39 the rear "door lock- Figure 12 is a perspective view of the keeper for the bolt.

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein for the purpose of illustration, I have disclosed. a preferred embodiment of the invention the numeral 5 designates a tubular housing having an attaching plate 5 at its rear end and a polygonal shaped boxing l at its front end, the outer end of the boxing being open.

The boxing l is suitably secured in an opening 8 in the front door jamb 9 of a center post I0 positioned between the front door I I and rear door I2 of an automobile. The rear door jamb I3 is also provided with an opening I4 receiving the rear end of the housing 5 and the plate Sis suitably attached to the iamb I3.

A hollow plunger I5 is slidably mounted in the front portion of the housing 5 and is formed with a head It conformably received in the boxing "I and having a rounded outer edge I! for engagement by the front door I I upon the closing movement of the latter to slide the plunger I5 rearwardly.

The plunger I 5 is proiected forwardly by a coil spring I 3 positioned therein with its frontend bearing against the head it and its rear end bear.- ing against a flange I 9 at the front end of a bolt slidable in the plunger. The rear end of the plunger is inwardly flanged as shown at- 2| for engagement behind the flange I9 to hold the plunger and bolt in assembled relation.

The rear end of the bolt 2B is slidable through an opening 22 in the attaching plate 6, the plate '6 forming an abutment for a coil spring 23 surrounding the bolt and having its front end'bearr ing against a flange 25 on the bolt to retract the vbolt in the housing 5, spring 23 being of suflicient' strength to overcome thespring 18. I

v7 The flange 2! of the plunger I5-is internally notched as shown at 2-5 for the passage of cir; cumferentially spaced apart lugs 25 carried by the bolt 20. 'A'manual operating lever 21 has-one end threaded into-one of the lugs 26 and projects laterally outwardly through an L-shaped slot -28 in housing5 and through an aligned L-shaped slot 29 in a corresponding shaped plate 30 secured in alignment with an-opening 3] in the door post Ill; The outer end of the lever 2'! is provided with a finger gripping knob 32.- I

The rear end of the plunger 15 is formed with ;a' 1ongitudinally extending slot 33 aligned with one of the notches 25.

-A recessed keeper 34'is attached to the free edge of the reardoor l2 to receive the-rear end ofthe bolt 2!! when in its projected position.

In the operation of the device, the housing 5 is mounted ina longitudinalv position in the door .post II! as shown in Figure 2 of the drawings and with the plunger I5 and bolt 2i! slidably carried .r a g.-... re...s9 i rea ent-. 9? new 3 change the lock from locked to unlocked position or vice versa.

The spring 23 normally retracts the bolt 20 so that the rear door [2 is free to open independently of the front door ll. During this action, the lever 21 is positioned in the upper vertical portion of the L-shaped slots 28 and 29 with the notches 25 and lugs 26 aligned and the closing movement of the door ll slides the head l6 and plun er l rearwardly without affecting the bolt 20 and during which the lever 21 works in the slot 33 of the plunger.

When it is desired to lock the rear door I2 by the bolt 20, the front door is opened and the lever 21 is lowered to the horizontal portion of the slotted guide 29 which rotates the bolt 20 to move the lugs 26 out of alignment with the notches 25 in the rear end of plunger l 5 whereby arearward movement of the plunger will engage the lugs and transmit the movement of the plunger to the bolt. Accordingly, as the front door II is closed, the plunger [5 and bolt 20 move rearwardly as a unit, the rear end of the bolt 20 being projected into the keeper 34 to thus lock the rear door 12.

The lever 21 is held in its raised locked position by a leaf spring 35 secured in the vertical portion of the slot 29 which functions as a catch to hold the lever in its raised position.

In view of the foregoing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings it is believed that a clear understanding of the construction, operation and advantages of the device will be quite apparent to those skilled in this art. A more detailed description is accordingly deemed unnecessary.

It is to be understood, however, that even though there is herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention the same is susceptible to certain changes fully comprehended by the spirit of the invention as herein described and the scope of the appended claims.

Having described the invention what is claimed as new is:

1. In a locking device for opposedly swingable doors having an intervening post between the doors, a spring retracted sliding bolt in the post for locking one of the doors, a sliding plunger in the post having interlocking engagement with the bolt and actuated by a closing movement of 'the other door to project the bolt into its door locking position, and means operable to release the bolt from engagement with the plunger by a rotary movement of the bolt relative to the plunger for independent sliding movement thereof.

2. In a locking device for opposedly swingable doors having an intervening post between the doors, a spring retracted sliding bolt in the post for locking one of the doors, a sliding plunger in the post, said bolt and plunger having an interlocking engagement with each other, movable into and out of interlocking engagement by a rotary movement of one relative to the other, said plunger being actuated by a closing movement of the other door to project the bolt into its door locking position when the bolt and the plunger are in interlocking engagement, and means for releasing the bolt and plunger from interlocking engagement with each other for independent sliding movement thereof.

3. In a locking device for opposedly swingable doors having an intervening post between the doors, a spring retracted sliding bolt in the post for locking one of the doors, a sliding plunger in the post, said bolt and plunger having an interlocking engagement with each other movable into and out of interlocking engagement by a rotary movement of one relative to the other, said plunger being actuated by a closing movement of the other door to project the bolt into its door locking position when the bolt and the plunger are in interlocking engagement, and means for releasing the bolt and plunger from interlocking engagement with each other for independent sliding movement thereof, said means comprising a lever projecting laterally from the bolt.

In a locking device for opposedly swingable doors having an intervening post between the doors, a spring retracted sliding bolt in the post for locking one of the doors, a sliding plunger in the post, said bolt and plunger having an interlocking engagement with each other movable into and out of interlocking engagement by a rotary movement of one relative to the other, said plunger being actuated by a closing movement of the other door to project the bolt into its door locking position when the bolt and the plunger are in interlocking engagement, and means for releasing the bolt and plunger from interlocking engagement with each other for independent sliding movement thereof, said means comprising a lever projecting laterally from the bolt, and means for locking the lever in position to hold the bolt and plunger in interlocking engagement.

5. In a locking device for opposedly swingable doors having an intervening post between the doors, a spring projected plunger slidable in the post in the path of closing movement of one of the doors for actuation thereby, a spring retracted bolt slidable in the post for locking engagement with the other door, said plunger and said bolt having a slidable and rotatable engagement one within the other and said plunger being held against rotary movement, interlocking lugs carried by the plunger and bolt interlockably engaged with each other by a rotary movement of the bolt for sliding the plunger and bolt as a unit, and a radially projecting lever carried by the bolt for rotating the bolt into a released position.

6. In a locking device for opposedly swingable doors having an intervening post between the doors; a spring projected plunger slidable in the post in the path of closing movement of one of the'doors for actuation thereby, a spring retracted bolt slidable in the post for locking engagement with the other door, said plunger and said'bolt having a slidable and rotatable engage ment one within the other and said plunger being held against rotary movement, interlocking lugs carried by the plunger and bolt interlockably engaged with each other by a rotary movement of the bolt for sliding the plunger and bolt as a unit, a radially projecting lever carried by the bolt for releasing the bolt from the plunger, and an L-shaped guide carried by the post for the lever.

DONALD J. REPKO.

' REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,790,104 Levitt et al Jan. 2'7, 1931 2,161,930 Niswonger et a1. June 13, 1939 2,273,149 Shannon et a1 Feb. 17, 1942 

